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Galaxy S7 fails to edge past the iPhone, but Samsung regains US top spot

Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 edge have been the hottest selling Android smartphones this year, in fact many expect these two to be the company’s most popular smartphones ever released. However, according to new sales data from Kantar World Panel, the Galaxy S7 series was actually only the second best selling smartphone in the US during its release quarter. Instead, Apple’s iPhone 6S is the best selling smartphone in the US.

According to the data, the iPhone 6S accounted for 11 percent of all smartphone sales in the US between April and June 2016. This was followed by combined Galaxy S7 sales on 9 percent, and the cheaper iPhone SE grabbed 5 percent of sales. However, in the bigger picture Samsung accounted for 35 percent of all smartphone sales in the US for the three months ending June 2016. Apple ended the quarter on 32 percent, followed by LG in third on 14 percent, and Lenovo (Motorola) in fourth at 5 percent.

This news is not entirely surprising, as Apple has been leading Samsung’s Galaxy S series for flagship market share in the US for a little while now. Given the overwhelming positive reception and strong global sales of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, Samsung may have hoped to have overtaken Apple this year, at least temporarily during the phone’s debut.

However, the sales boost from the new Galaxy S7 range has helped to put Samsung back on top in the country. Separate data from Strategy Analytics put Samsung on a 26 percent US market share in Q2 2015, behind Apple’s unchanged 32 percent share. Overall, Samsung Galaxy sales are up quite substantially in the US year-on-year.

However, this success may not be sustained later in the year, after the company opted to recall all of its Galaxy Note 7 handsets following a series of rare battery explosions. It’s now highly unlikely that Samsung will be able to capitalize on the head-start it gave to its latest smartphone, which may have a notable impact on Samsung’s sales towards the end of the year. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus have just launched to the usual fanfare, while many customers are still left wondering about when the Galaxy Note 7 will go back on sale and whether or not there will be any persistent problems with the device.